The tourism market has been changing during the last decade, as a more enlightened generation of travelers has been flexing its financial muscles and demanding more from a vacation than the standard chain hotels can give, and a new type of travel is becoming popular.

This newer group of tourists is interested in more than their parents generation, and so the tourism industry is filling this need by offering hotels and resorts with yoga and wellness.

Yoga retreat centers are appearing all over the earth, and nowhere more so than Costa Rica. Most medium to large hotels offer yoga in one form or another, since so many tourists are asking for it.

Beach towns in Costa Rica with an eye on tourism, such as Montezuma or Santa Teresa in the southern Nicoya Peninsula, have multiple resorts to learn yoga, and these hotels and retreat centers compete over which is able to create the most gorgeous yoga space.

Retreat Centers such as Anamaya Yoga Retreat Center in Montezuma have a large wooden deck overlooking the ocean, fulfilling every yoga enthusiast’s fantasy about what tropical paradise will look like on their trip. This type of yoga floor is very photogenic, and this helps a hotel to succeed in booking guests, since so many travelers choose their vacation accommodations based mostly from the photos of the places they are considering staying at.

Since so many teachers of yoga have visited Costa Rica for yoga retreats, many have of course fallen in love with the country and a few have stayed. Now many work at various hotels in Costa Rica, or offer private classes at Costa Rica beach house rentals.

Because of this influx of talented yoga teachers to Costa Rica, the tourist towns, such as Malpais now a variety of yoga options. While it’s not always true, the men go surfing and the girls do yoga.

Yoga is often part of a group of vacation hotels known as Wellness Centers. Such places offer their guests a chance not only to relax, but to eat a much healthier diet, participate in cleansing, try meditation, and learn about healthy lifestyles.

Many clients who have visited a Wellness retreat discover that when they return to their home, they are not only rested, but they are happier because they have increased energy, and these changes in their lifestyle last long after their vacation.

Many new wellness centers focus primarily on cleansing, and usually begin with fasting. After that a restricted diet of pure and simple organic foods such as fruit and veggies, often raw.

To further assist to detoxify the body, these retreats offer a variety of therapies such as a sauna, massage , colon hydrotherapy, and acupuncture. Some include a professional yoga program for putting pressure on the internal organs of the belly using the appropriate poses for each.

Guests at these wellness centers report improvements such as having significantly more energy, more restful sleep, healthier skin and clearer eyes.

So if you’re researching your next journey to our country, participate in a wellness or yoga retreat instead of an ordinary hotel. As with so many people who tried it, you will most likely return both healthier and happier.